Taking Back the American Dream

This
week I (Mattea Kramer, research analyst here at NPP) traveled to Washington to
the Take Back the American Dream conference. What did I learn? I learned that the
American Dream Movement is about Shannon McLeish and others like her. Shannon
and I ate cheese quesadillas together on Monday night. Shannon has two
daughters, ages 6 and 7. She and her husband are self-employed; she has a tiny
editing business, and he sells things on Craigslist and eBay. They’re from
Daytona Beach, Florida.

Shannon
became an activist when chemical additives in her kids’ food made her concerned for their health. Then she noticed that social services in her area were drying up.
She said the state’s Department of Children and Families had been reduced to
computer kiosks at Walgreens, where residents can sign up for food stamps.
Shannon has been organizing other Daytona Beach residents to demand that
elected officials pay attention to problems in their community. A group of
Daytona residents raised the money to send Shannon to Washington to attend the
conference.

Shannon’s
eyes lit up when I told her that she can use the NPP database to get information
about poverty and unemployment in Florida and Volusia County. Throughout the
conference, I heard activists like Shannon saying they need numbers to back up
their arguments. Check out this week’s data story at the NPP database, in honor
of Shannon.